““Moses himself told the people of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.’”
Acts 7:37 (NLT)
Stephen leads us next into the results of Moses’ encounter. God sent the man His people had rejected back into Egypt, and Moses became their ruler and savior through many wonders and miracles. He led them out by parting the Red Sea and shepherded them through the wilderness for forty years. Moses was successful in his assignment.
And then Moses tells the people something important: God is going to raise up for our people a prophet like me, from among us. Who’s he talking about? Jesus Christ. God came to rescue His people by sending the rejected again. Jesus was rejected by His own brothers and by the people of God He came to save, but He rescued many then and He is rescuing many now.
Jesus is like Moses because He spoke God’s words like Moses did. Both spent time alone with God and then brought those words to the people—like Jesus said in John 12:49. Jesus used wonders and signs to reveal the power of God to others, to draw them in to hear the message of the good news of the kingdom of God. Jesus is the Good Shepherd—He leads us through the wilderness and parts the Red Sea in our lives.
Moses received life-giving words to pass on to Israel. God gave Moses this law as instruction for how to live. The instructions Jesus gave His disciples in red letters are also life-giving words by God passed on to us. Jesus must be the king of our heart to truly be our savior, and we must submit to his instructions and not worldly wisdom to be redeemed from the whole curse. If we reject Jesus as king, we stay slaves to sin like Israel wanted to return to Egypt after they had been rescued from slavery. Deuteronomy 18:19 shows us God will deal with anyone who does not listen to the prophet He sends—if we don’t receive Jesus as our Lord and accept the gift God provided through Him, we condemn ourselves to eternal judgement. Today we must accept Jesus for who He is, listen to His life-giving words, and encourage others to do the same.